Mike Brant

Mike Brant was born in 1947 in Nicosia

Mike Brant was born Moshe Michael Brand in 1947 in a British internment camp in Cyprus. His Jewish parents came from Poland, and his mother had survived Auschwitz. The family reached Mandatory Palestine in September 1947 and settled in Haifa, where he grew up.

He did not fit in at school and spent time at kibbutz Gesher before returning to Haifa. He worked in casual jobs, including as a guard at a naval museum, and took drama lessons at the Haifa Theater.

At 17 he became lead singer of his brother's band, The Chocolates, and later toured abroad with Yonatan Karmon's troupe. After singer Sylvie Vartan saw him perform in Tehran, he moved to Paris in 1969. Producer Jean Renard changed his surname to Brant and recorded "Laisse-moi t'aimer" with him.

He won a European radio song contest for France and released further hits. In 1971 he was badly injured in a traffic accident. In 1973 he gave 250 concerts, and during the Yom Kippur War he performed for Israeli soldiers.

He suffered from depression and attempted suicide in Geneva in 1974. He died by suicide in Paris on 25 April 1975 and was buried in Haifa.